Crossing Bridges
by pyro-rocketeer
Summary: And he was waiting for her, halfway. Tyhil. Side of Kaihil. Post-GRev.


**I own nothing** \- but if i did, I would make a damn sequel of first-gen beyblade.

A/N: A bit of a break from angst ridden, action fanfiction and into a more cheesy fluffy one-shot. Kaihil and Tyhil. Actually mostly Tyhil.

Beyblade was my first break into fanfiction – I published nothing, only wrote out multiple awkward oneshots with no particular adherence to plot. I've since lost those bunch of drabbles. Stuff like Hilary becomes a dark blader or something, another one was an awkward mix of brooklyn/hilary (could have been fun if I wasn't such a sap for mary-sues, awful beybattle writing or stiff-necked romance) and Tyhil.

I've graduated from Beyblade and into other things. I still come back from time to time – because well, I _didn't_ expect Hilary Tachibana of all the Bladebreakers to have such a badass fandom.

Thanks for all those years!

* * *

She bit her lip.

And then ran her fingers through her hair. Her other fist was clenched around an envelope, opened and creased. Hilary raised her knuckles to the sliding door – almost to knock.

But froze.

"The new regional championships? Are we invited? Are we going to make an appearance?"

"Max's mom made us register, Tyson," Kenny, the team's chief mechanic clucked in annoyance.

"Yeah Tys," Max snorted, "Weren't you listening?"

"When is it? Kai's flying in this weekend, isn't he?" There was a hint of something falsely clueless in his voice. She missed it. Her heart always worked before her head.

So at the sound of the team-captain flying in, Hilary's cheeks paled considerably. She felt really antsy and bothered as she pulled open the door – with no particular regard for courtesy and shrieked.

"Kai's coming back?!"

She came face to face with Tyson.

"Boo!"

"AHHHH for the love of – _Tyson!_ " She nearly fell over – he caught her arm.

"Gotcha!" He grinned at her. She had the urge to slam the sliding door in his impudent face or pinch and twist his nose – until Kenny popped his head up from his laptop. She snapped her attention to him, mouth ajar.

"Hmm? Hilary? Oh yea – Kai is flying in this weekend."

* * *

Kai was the perfect boyfriend.

He had standards. He was mature. He was rich and he liked to use his wealth lavishly. Truth be told, despite all the gaudy necklaces, rings and general outfits for her – all of which she respectfully declined, Hilary Tatibana didn't think they fit like a warm glove.

She'd broken up with him first. He agreed.

That didn't mean the other ugly, awkward feelings about the Kai Hiwatari didn't surface from time to time.

She was examining the flyer when he walked in with his case, followed by Max and Kenny.

There was silence. Max and Kenny looked at each other, took a few steps back –

"Hey Tyson! Is that you I hear?" Kenny cupped his ear nervously, much to Hilary's ire. There was no response down the hall-way. She looked at the two boys blankly. They refused to meet her gaze.

"Well darn Kenny," Max added in a high-pitched voice, nodding his head vigorously, "I think I heard that too! What's that Tyson?"

The clock ticked patiently in the background for three seconds.

Pushing Max, Kenny adjusted his glasses as they stomped down the hallway into 'Tyson's' general direction. There was more silence before Hilary averted her eyes.

"Hi Kai."

He strode into the room and placed down the case.

"Hello." He added, an uncharacteristic tone of softness in his voice, "How are you?"

She cracked into a smile, "I'm doing alright! You flew in for the regional championships?"

He sent her look that sounded a bit like 'duh!' She grinned back at him and scratched the back of her head, cheeks reddening.

"I mean that's a stupid question because you obviously –"

"I flew in to see you."

Her hand fell, and she stared at him jaw-dropped. He was _smirking_ at her – that devilishly handsome smirk. Her insides clenched as she tried to force a smile. He might have noticed the twitch.

"You needed a bit of a joke to loosen up the tension in your face, Hilary."

And then her insides fell apart.

"Besides – I agree with what happened between us."

And then froze again.

"Kai…" She began, crumbling, "I'm sorry. I just…"

He stopped fiddling with the latch of his rolling case.

"Hilary, it's alright." He said patiently, "I might have not gained your affections – but I rest easy knowing that you'll be happier with someone more…understanding in your life. It works for the best, eventually."

And it wasn't that he wasn't the perfect boyfriend. He was amazing. They'd never found that bridge – that _bridge_ which they could meet at. It was always something or the other.

"You deserve the best," She blurted out, "You deserve the _very_ best."

And the eighteen year old stood up, to his full height – even after all these years, Hilary could never grasp at how old he had gotten – _they'd_ gotten. He stood in front of her and ran his fingers fondly through her hair, into a tousling mess – in that _very_ familiar way that he used to.

"Thank you."

* * *

Tyson invited him over for dinner, he declined for an early bed. Lying down on the futon – Kai stared up at the ceiling, feeling his insides both clench up and retract.

He observed his callous fingers.

" _You've got such nice fingers_. _" Hilary smiled at him, "Really long and pretty."_

Snorting to himself, he leaned into his pillow and closed his eyes – he could hear her laughing through the hall-way, probably at something that Max or Tyson had done. Then he heard Tyson talk. She laughed again, it was one of those tingly laughs that sent a ripple through his belly.

It was one she reserved for someone _other_ than him.

There was a rather loud _yowl_ from a certain capped boy – making him roll his eyes.

Smiling to himself, Kai drifted away thinking of potential training plans, like tomorrow he would make Granger run several more laps around the block.

* * *

Later that night, she was undressing for bed, when the crumpled envelope fell out of her pocket. Hilary stared at it for a few seconds before sighing.

"Not again!"

It seemed like every time she was at the dojo, she seemed to be forgetting her errand. Stupid Tyson – he ordered pizza. They all watched reruns of an old action movie before Kenny called it an evening. And then she _forgot_ again. She balled her fists and breathed out – gazing outside her window. Logically, she could text him.

Logically, he would text back.

But this was an errand better done face-to-face. She hauled her hoodie over her head again.

* * *

See the thing is, Tyson never handled rejection well. Any kind of rejection – from his team-mates leaving him at the tender age of fifteen to even asking the girl of his dreams out on a date. A single date. That was all it took. The rest would be left up to her, would the great world championship woo the girl of his dreams? Watch to find out more.

Yawning, Tyson switched the channel – from E-TV to a mundane documentary. His eyes glazed over as baby animals defecated in muddy rivers.

He'd spent far too long in the spot-light to remember what simple things were like. It was why he was thankful to the constants in his life, Hilary, Kenny, Gramps – and Daichi.

He brought the towel to his head and rubbed his scalp.

There was a knock on his door. He looked up at the door which led outside. Someone had managed to get past the security code on the premises, it could only mean – Kenny, Max or Hilary. Ray wasn't in the country. Kai was asleep. Warily, he reached for the door – and drew it open.

"Sorry," There was a muffled whisper, he looked down at Hilary who was sheepishly scratching the back of her head. "I didn't realize you might have been asleep."

He blinked.

"No, that's fine – what's up?" He left the door open and reached for his can of soda. She narrowed her eyes at the drink.

"Is that a carbonated drink?" She asked him, shutting the door behind her. He gulped it down and grinned at her.

"Yep. No sugar just like you prescribed, Dr. Hilary!"

She looked momentarily bewildered as he guzzled the rest of the contents of the can before waving it off.

"Ahh! I didn't come to yell at you about your diet at ten in the night!"

She sat down on his bed, patting the mattress beside her.

"I came to talk."

"About Kai?" He chuckled. She winced, and scrounged up her noise into a very pert, dignified sniff.

"Do you always have to be such a jerk about our break up? It's not like we're _not_ okay!"

He took a seat beside her, rubbing a part of his scalp with his towel and grinning at her, mischievously. The close proximity filled her with mush, seeping up her throat and onto her very _warm_ face.

"Jerk." She mumbled under her breath.

"Sooo," he began suggestively, tone dropping a bit lower, "What brings you to my room at ten at night?"

Tyson expected an snappish remark. Instead, she was staring at him with a grim, serious look on her face. There was something flickering in her reddish eyes. He could read her after all of these years, she wanted to tell him something but she was _tip-toeing_ around his feelings.

He leaned back.

"What is it?"

"Ahh!" She began, flustered. He brought a hand to her mouth.

"Not so loud –" He hissed, gazing back at the other door. Gramps was just down the hall-way. He heard the thumping of feet. She panicked and muffled, her voice into a whisper. He'd never hear the end of it if Max and Kenny found him alone with Hilary. They'd already been so overbearing lately.

"I'm _sorry_." She tore his hand away from her lips, "I just needed to tell you something."

He sent her a questioning look. She was still holding his hand – averting her eyes.

"I've gotten an opportunity to study abroad."

There was silence.

"That's g-great Hil." He began slowly. He noticed the way her fingers were now rubbing soothing circles into his tightening knuckles. Just like she'd found him when she was fifteen – and Max and Ray had left.

"I'll be leaving shortly…" She mumbled, "The spring semester will be starting soon. I can't be –"

The implications hit him. She couldn't be there for his…regional championships and for training for the upcoming world-championships later that year.

He sighed. She stopped babbling.

"When are you leaving?"

"In a month."

His head shot up – "That soon?"

"I thought I told you, idiot! Do you _ever_ listen?" She deadpanned.

Hilary deflated as he started laughing. He pulled his hand out of her grasp. And then she found herself into a hug, a large, warm, enveloping hug – almost desperately holding her.

Like he never wanted to let go.

"This is great," He gave her a wet laugh. His voice made the hair on the back of her head stand up on an end, "I'm _so_ happy for you. You deserve this, Hils."

It was the same words – the _very_ same words he told her when he'd found out about her and Kai. She pulled him away from her, searching his eyes for something.

The twinkle in his eyes was somewhat missing.

The twinkle that she had fallen irrevocably in love with. It appeared in everything, from the spit-fire banter, to the cantankerous antics, to the nights he'd spend listening to her, talking to her and rubbing soothing circles into her back.

"Tyson," she mumbled, still within his arm's length, "Are you okay with this? I won't be there for you this world cup! I'm sorry, I'm sorry I promised you that I'd be with you no matter what –"

She was so close.

"No Hilary, this is too good an opportunity to pass up." He whispered and then reached forward to tickle her, catching her off guard. By the end of it, they were lying on his floor – a tangle of limbs, blankets, a towel and wet-hair and her face was scrunched up in laughter.

She had dimples when she smiled. And she was so _damn_ beautiful.

"I'll really miss you – Hilary." He said with an achy fondness.

She leaned forward – crossing that bridge. He was waiting for her, half-way.

"Me too, you big baby."

And that's how Tyson had gotten his first kiss with the girl of his dreams.

"Tyson did you just burp in my mouth!?"

And from the other end of the wall was Grandpa Granger thumping the wall, making both them jump – "Go to sleep you damn kids!"

* * *

So they got together. Everyone knew it would happen. He was okay with a long-distance relationship. She was okay with it too. They would call each other a _lot_. The phone-calls even drove Gramps mad. Long distance calls were funny – talking was funny. It was either him yelling over the phone so she could hear him, miles and miles away – or her screaming at him. As if she was screaming over a stadium.

Kenny snickered. Max had this _very_ irritating grin on his face.

"What?" Tyson scowled. Max waved him off.

"Well Kenny, that means I'll have to go get my money from Ray, eh?" He waggled a blonde brow.

Tyson stared at the two of them with incredulity.

"You morons _bet_ on us?"

* * *

Six months later, Tyson walked into the stadium for the preliminaries of the World championships. He was greeted by the rush of cheers as he lifted his Beyblade to the crowds. She wasn't in the crowds but he knew that she was watching. He'd just talked to her over the phone, she'd yelled at him and told him that she wouldn't miss his match for the world.

"Hil, what's that noise in the background?"

"What noise?" She replied _loudly_ through the crackle – making him wince, "Tyson! Your match will be starting in ten minutes!"

* * *

She shuffled into the stadium just in time to see him raise Dragoon for the crowd. She still had her pink suitcase in tow and the spot-lights fluttered around the large stadium. Hilary leaned forward on the railing and chuckled fondly.

"I can't wait to see his face!"

He was calling attacks, back and forth – controlling Dragoon. A sliver of sweat ran down the side of his face. His eyes glittered with excitement. And all of it was on display on the rather large screen. Hilary thought nothing looked more beautiful.

She missed this – she missed this between her new, much quieter life in Toronto, huddled in her cramped little apartment. Her company were textbooks and takeout. She missed him, she missed _them_ more than ever in those time like that. He'd call her, text her – send her pictures.

Even miles away, he still managed to slip into her life like a constant.

Hilary tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, bathing in the loud roars of a thousand fans. There were occasionally some very giddy cheers of "Go Tyson!" before she let out the loudest scream bottled up in her throat - fueled by contagious excitement.

"Don't lose!"

* * *

Oh, his face was worthy of a picture. She took one on her new cell-phone. She'd brought it after her old one fell into a frigid river whilst talking to Tyson.

"What the – Hilary!? H-how?"

She crossed the room with one swift motion and tugged his cap over his eyes – amidst the laughter of Ray, Max and Kenny. Kai shook his head behind all of them, a smile tugging at his lips.

"Gotcha!"

Tyson was grinning despite himself. He pulled her into a tight, giddy hug.

 _Thanks for reading!_


End file.
